Jono's Travel Blog

15/10/2010 Day 45 Vancouver to Mexico

Distance Travelled: Just a little North-west of Ventura to Santa Monica 70 Miles (112km)

Money Spent: Too much…$5 for Lunch, $10 for beer, $1.50 for a shot of wheatgrass, $60 for 2 nights at the hostel and $6 for the pub crawl.

Time cycling: 5 hours 30 minutes

Total Distance Traveled: 2839 km

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I woke up under the tree where I camped beside the cycle path where early morning cyclists and joggers gave me strange looks, hehe.

It was a shitty morning where it was overcast and was drizzling, I pcked up my things and was back on the road by 7.30.

I went to check out the town of Ventura where all the crackheads were out and about in the downtown area where I stopped to get some directions and a shot of wheatgrass (that apparently is incredibly good for you).

I stopped by the beach where I munched down some cereal for breakfast and met John – a very friendly guy who I got chatting to for quite some time. We exchanged contact details and I gave him the link to this blog.

Most of the ycling for the morning was boring, with nothing worth mentioning but as I came close to a campground another touring cyclist joined the road… It was Jeff!

I had been trying to catch him as he left San Fran a day before I left. We caught up and shared stories of some of the crazy roads taken and people we had met whilst watching the surfers on the coast.

Cycling through Malibu we grabbed some burritos for a street vendor and stopped for a break in a park.

Getting into Santa Monica was obvious as the beach opened up and the Ferris wheel on Santa Monica pier was coming into view, the beach was packed with birds (unfortunately of the flying variety) with not much else. The weather was still glum so nobody was on the beach.

We stopped to check out the pier and headed to the hostel where I checked-in, the hostel was lush but I was highly disappointed because there was a no alcohol rule.

Jeff was staying with the boys he had been cycling with down the street I went over there to meet them. The house they lived in was falling apart, but they were doing their best to clean it up so I helped out a little whilst sinking some beers.

I headed back to the hostel where I met some Danish guys who were drinking in our room so joined them for a laugh.

The hostel had a pub-crawl thing organized for the evening so I participated so I could meet some girls. It took us to a comedy improv session which was pretty funny and included some free alcohol. We then headed to a bar where people were impressed by my cycle trip and kept on buying me beers. I met some east Indians on the table next to us where they offered me some Mexican food that they couldn’t eat… it was a very cheap night. Later I ended up going with some uni students and some German girls to the university area where we played some beer pong and drank some more. All in all it was a good night, well, at least the things I could remember.